


Rocket and Diamond

by Wafflesrock



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Adoption, Comfort, F/M, Found Family, Grief/Mourning, children are precious, minor smut, the little ladies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wafflesrock/pseuds/Wafflesrock
Summary: Gift fic featuring the wonderful Saphistars OCs. Because I love Saph.In the aftermath of the Reaper war, Dex and Tabby find themselves in new roles; parents. Together, they do their best to raise their daughters with love and understanding, while keeping the memories of those they've lost alive.





	Rocket and Diamond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saphistar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saphistar/gifts).



They had never discussed it much. Or at all, really, if he was being honest. Children was just not a topic that ever came up. At most, he and Tabitha had been talking about maybe getting a pet. A bird or something small. But even that had been a discussion neither took too seriously. They traveled so much and moved so frequently that a pet seemed like it would be a huge hassle.

The Reapers had changed everything. Dexion had reenlisted in the military, took up his position in the Havok team once more. But Tabitha was not a solider. He’d practically begged her to stay on the Citadel, where she’d be safe. “Please, Diamond,” he’d said. “You’re the one perfect thing in this damn galaxy. I _can’t_ lose you. Please, please stay, where you’ll be safe.”

She’d cupped his face in her hands, as they lay on their bed, knotted together and utterly sated. “Rocket, it’s _not_ safe here. If anything, we’re easier prey.” She’d entwined her hand with his, the tattoo of her wedding ring with his name written inside lining up with his own tattooed wedding band with “Tabby” neatly printed in it.

He’d sighed, hoping beyond hope she’d stay. And when he’d learned that the Citadel was destroyed, millions dead, he’d sat up in that cold, musty barn his unit was using as make-shift barracks and sobbed until his throat was raw from keens. It wasn’t until months later, as he’d stepped onto the Illium docking bay, hollow inside, that he’d seen her. His Tabby. His diamond. Hair still a luminous platinum, still lean and powerful, lips a crimson red, rushing into his open, disbelieving arms. Crushing her lips against his mouth plates as they both sobbed and laughed in sheer jubilation that somehow, through all the hell and fire and death, they were together again, and alive.

That was when the topic came up in earnest. Several months after reuniting, and they couldn’t go anywhere without seeing orphans of every race. Small humans with frightened eyes, turian chicks too quiet for comfort, and asari, salarian and even a few batarian children with haunted expressions.

Tabby had suggested it first. Though, he shouldn’t have been surprised. His mate was the kindest, most open-hearted person he knew. So, when she asked him one night as they sat up watching a vid, if he would be open to adopting a child, and he saw the genuine desire to help - to be a mother - burning in her amber eyes he’d said that getting to be a father with her by his side sounded wonderful.

They’d gone to a local orphanage the next day. They met some of the children and talked to the staff. They both made good money – Tabitha as a highly sought-after tattoo artist and he as a construction foreman – and the workers were hopeful that they would match with a child. Be able to offer a little one a home with love and stability.

The workers had been wrong. They didn’t find a child. They found three. The twins, Alicia and Ava, were only two. But, they’d run up to he and Tabby on wobbly toddler legs and said “hi” in tiny voices before asking Tabby to read them a book and Dex to join them for something called a tea party. And they’d both known. These were their daughters. No question about it.

They’d returned the next day to fill out the paperwork. Given the number of children needing homes, and that he and Tabby had quickly passed background checks, the girls would be coming home with them that day. They’d spent the previous night cleaning and setting up the spare room for them with dolls and new clothes. Tabby had even painted a mural on the wall of some creatures called unicorns, with rainbows and stars and other brightly colored creatures called dragons and fairies. It was perfect. The twins would love it, he knew.

It was as they headed out the door of the orphanage with the girls that Augusta came in. Barely eight months old and still in the cowl, her small, orange eyes had caught Tabitha’s, and the chick had reached out to her to with impossibly small hands, cheeping in her small subvocals, calling Tabby “mommy.” And so, the day after, with a baby nest set up in their own bedroom, the golden plated, fuzzy chick had joined the Voluptas family. Because that was what they were.

It seemed so long ago to Dexion, now. His little ladies were a part of his everyday life. Alicia loved action figures and climbing trees. She said she was going to be a havoc solider when she grew up, and Dex believed her. Ava, in contrast, loved all things ribbon, lace and princess related. She hosted lavish tea parties and would have everyone dress "fancy" to attend. A perfect picture of a princess. Augusta, his youngest, seemed a blend of her older sisters. She liked to take action figures and put them in dresses. Soldiers could be pretty and still kick ass she'd tell him. 

The girls would rush to the door when he got home to greet him with hugs and kisses, and announcements about what they’d done that day. And then Tabby, his queen and soul mate, would walk over to give him a passionate kiss and welcome him home. And it truly _was_ home, with his mate and daughters. He loved all his ladies more than he’d ever thought possible. And so, when Tabby had suggested a family vacation to Earth, to visit her own mother, he’d eagerly agreed. His daughters deserved a fun vacation with a doting grandmother. But he’d requested a layover. A personal matter. In a place called California.

As he stood gazing out over the impressive view of fog choked, craggy cliffs he heard an asari vender angrily yell at him.

“Sir! Are these _your_ daughters?” Her blue face wore a pinched expression of rage. Dex turned to see the twins, dressed in matching lilac and white dresses, white and purple ribbons braided into their hair in a style called “pig-tails,” looking innocently back at him.

“Yes, they’re _my_ little ladies,” Dex retorted protectively.

“Ladies?” The asari scoffed. “That one,” she pointed to Ava. “Called me a blue bitch, and that one,” she pointed to Alicia “said she’d cunt-punt me into the ocean!”

Dex swallowed a hardy laugh before looking to his daughters. “Girls is that true?” He asked.

“She called us brats, daddy!” Ava said, outrage in her eyes. “Because we told her we needed only the best pink flowers and hers all look wilted!”

Dex turned to admire the flowers on offer. They were wilted and rather tragic looking. Glancing back to the asari, who had her hands akimbo on her hips, he shrugged. “Well, they are pretty dead.” He said.

“So, you’re not going to even reprimand them?” The asari matron asked, before turning her ire back on his girls. “Ladies don’t swear and say nasty things!” She informed them, sticking her nose in the air.

“ _Real_ ladies cuss _and_ know how to throw a punch,” Alicia retorted. “Right daddy?”

“Damn right sweetie,” Dex said proudly. “Come on girls, lets go find some flowers that are actually pretty.”

He could feel the matron glaring daggers at him as he took each girl by a hand and they walked off to find Tabby and Augusta.

By the time he, Tabby, and the girls had found the prettiest pink flowers for sale and driven to the secluded cliff off Highway 1, the mid-morning sun had burnt off most of the fog and the cobalt waters of the Pacific Ocean sparkled with light.

“Is this the place daddy?” Ava whispered to him as the family stood gazing out over the endless blue waters. “Is this where the princess and the dragon prince live?”

“Yes baby,” Tabby answered for him. “This is the place.”

“Daddy knew them, huh momma?” Alicia asked. “Princess Sophie and prince Davix?”

Tabby smiled down at the little girl, gently petting the top of her chestnut head. “That’s right. Like from your bedtime stories. The greatest love story the galaxy has ever known.”

Dex couldn’t help the bittersweet smile that crossed his face. _Look at me, Dav. I have a wife and children now too._

“Flowers?” Augusta questioned from her place in Tabby's arms.

“Yea, time for flowers,” Dex said, his voice rough to his own ears. Tabby gave him a concerned look, but he rumbled to her in reassurance. He was alright. It was just never easy to say goodbye.

The little ladies began to toss their pink flowers into the breeze, and Dex watched as they swirled in the sky before being carried out to sea. The girls giggled and jumped up and down when all the flowers were gone.

“Do you think they’ll like our flowers?” Ava asked. “Can they find them?”

“Of course they’ll like them,” Tabby said. “And spirits don’t hold or need things like the living do. They’re free to dance and twirl in the air and waves, but they appreciate the gesture.”

The girls fell silent then, gazing out over the brilliant ocean as waves crashed against the rocks.

“I see them!” Augusta suddenly cried. “Out there!” She pointed a tiny finger out over the water. “See?” She said turning to her older sisters.

“I see them too!” Alicia exclaimed, hopping up and down in excitement.

“Where?” Ava demanded, squinting her hazel eyes and straining to see what the others did.

“Out there,” Augusta repeated. “They’re dancing.”

Dex frowned, wondering what the hell they were talking about before Ava gasped and pulled on his pant leg to get his attention. “They’re over there daddy,” she said pointing. “They’re dancing in the sunbeam.”

Dex glanced to Tabby and saw her staring hard at where a shaft of light had broken through the clouds and was shining down over deep water that glittered and leaped over the sunbeam in a beautiful waltz of color.

“Do you see them too daddy?” Alicia asked.

Dex rumbled to his daughter before moving to wrap one arm around Tabby’s waist while the other came to rest on Alicia’s small shoulder. “Yes sweetie,” he said as Tabby leaned into his side. “I see them too.”

That night, as they all sat curled up on a far too small sofa watching a cartoon while the girls used markers to draw on his white arm and chest plates, “making him extra pretty,” his thoughts drifted back to the ocean and the dancing spirits of the princess and prince. _They’d be proud_ , he thought with a soft smile. And he snuggled deeper into the couch, causing the little ladies and Tabby to slide into his lap in a laughing, giggling pile.

Much like princess Sophie and dragon prince Davix, Dex too, had a happily ever after.

 

 

All artwork done by [@saphistar ](http://saphistar.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> All artwork done by Saphistar, who also takes comms. If you enjoyed this work please feel free to stop by and say hello to me on tumblr: @wafflesrock16


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